How to identify 32-bit apps that won’t work in iOS 11

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32-bit apps
32-bit apps won't launch on iOS 11. Here's how to get a list of the ones on your device.
Photo: Cult of Mac

iOS 11 won’t run any 32-bit apps. Most of the time, that won’t make any difference — most apps you use every day were updated to be 64-bit a long time ago. But we all have a few of those old apps laying around that haven’t been updated in years. Perhaps they’re still useful for you, or maybe Apple kicked the app out of the App Store and there’s no modern alternative?

Under iOS 11, those apps will no longer work. You may as well just delete them. And to help, there’s a spot in the Setting app where you can see a list of all those incompatible apps.

How to see a list of incompatible 32-bit apps in iOS 11

In iOS 10, 32-bit apps still run, but you get a warning that they may slow down your device. In iOS 11, the app just won’t launch. To find out which of your apps are now obsolete, head to the Setting app:

Settings>General>About>Applications. You’ll see something like this:

This is where to see which apps will no longer run in iOS 11.
This is where to see which apps will no longer run in iOS 11.
Photo: Cult of Mac

Tapping on the offending app will take you to its entry in the App Store, presumably so you can check to see if there has been an update. Perhaps the developer has released a newer version of the app and left this one to wither, for example. In any case, the app’s description gets a new banner, telling you that it’s incompatible. Similar info is also available in iOS 10, so you can at least check to see if your favorite olde-worlde app will work before upgrading.

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